Meyer must bury NZ bogey

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readers say that if Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer wants to win over the doubters he must beat
the All Blacks in this year’s Rugby Championships.

After 15
games in charge as Springbok coach, Meyer has won 10, lost 3 and drawn
2 games, giving him an overall winning percentage of 67%.

Yet, despite
Meyer achieving the fourth-best overall winning percentage of Springbok coaches
in the modern era behind Kitch Christie (100%), Nick Mallett (71%) and Jake
White (68%), readers were still sceptical about Meyer’s inability thus far to
win a Test against the No 1-ranked team in the world, the All Blacks.

Last year
Meyer’s team lost twice to the All Blacks in the Rugby Championship. The first, a 21-11 defeat at the Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin in a
closely-contested match, and then a crushing 32-16 loss in the return leg at the FNB Stadium in Soweto.

Christie,
Mallett, White and De Villiers all achieved victories over New Zealand during
their coaching careers, and in the cases of Mallett and De Villiers, they also beat
the All Blacks in New Zealand.

If Meyer is
able to finally overcome his All Blacks hoodoo, he will go some way towards
silencing his critics, but a Rugby Championship title would be the ultimate
riposte.

This is what Sport24 readers had to say about Meyer’s Bok
record:

“In his first 15 Tests Nick Mallet had a 100% record,
including record scores against France, Scotland and Wales. He also beat NZ and
Aus twice. Kitch of course was in charge
for only 14 tests, but won all 14. Jake White's first 15 tests saw the Boks win
71%, including wins against NZ and Aus. Heyneke's first 15 tests are clearly sub-par, drawing against Argentina and
never beating NZ. Even PDivvy had a 73%
win ratio in his first 15 games and beat the All Blacks in New Zealand.” –
Chris in Oz

“A draw against Argentina, plus wins over Italy, Samoa and
twice over Scotland, and he was never able to beat the All Blacks. Not really
an impressive record.” – CIO

“Difference between White and Mallet compared to Meyer: Mallet
won Tri Nations in his first year. White won Tri Nations in his first year. Meyer
came third in Rugby Championship in first year, coming last of the three
original Tri Nations teams.” - CIO

“Heyneke Meyer couldn’t even beat Argentina, let alone the
All Blacks. To beat Northern Hemisphere countries is nothing, he must win the
Championship/Tri Nations. It is a joke to mention him in the same category as
the other coaches.” – Cape Stormer

“For some reason the Boks struggled to beat the All Blacks
in their own backyard with Meyer as coach.” – Twakkie van Staden

“I'm not a huge fan of Meyer and we all know statistics can
be dodgy but won't it be wonderful if Meyer can shut the sulking, pouty Jake
White up?” – Chez Kri

“All that matters is our record against NZ and Aus. Top 3
teams in the world, we expect to beat all the others.” – Nico Eksteen

“HM is the first coach to coach in the Era of the Rugby
Championship. All the other coaches, coached during the era of Tri Nations.
Let’s face it - it was tougher to win games in a tournament that just consisted
of the top 3 teams in the world. Just by including Argentina, the win
percentage will go up. If Argentina was always included in the Southern
Hemisphere tournament, then all the coaches would have had a higher winning
percentage.” – Ryan Brewster

“Will he manage to beat the AB's in New Zealand. Jake failed
there everytime?” – Spike Porcupine

“We will probably have a better idea of his record after the
Rugby Championship when the Boks will be facing The All Blacks, Wallabies and
the Argentines. If we can manage to beat Argentina twice and win a game each
against the All Blacks and Wallabies, then it will be already a massive
improvement from last year.” – Wouter van Heerden

The mighty All Blacks. (Getty Images)

HAVE YOUR SAY: Will a win over the All Blacks for Heyneke Meyer win over his critics?Send your thoughts toSport24!

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